meeting a celebrity

For the past month or so we have been studying weather in the 2nd grade. To conclude the unit I contacted ABC 11 and meteorologist Chris Hohmann agreed to come speak to our students.

We gathered all 85 2nd graders into my classroom for the event. 

 Mr. Hohmann was a WONDERFUL speaker and the kids were so well behaved and respectful for the hour long session. That is amazing for 7 and 8 year olds! He was very impressed with what our students knew about weather. 

 The 2nd Grade teachers with Chris Hohmann. 

Andrea, Ginger, Chris, me, Rach

He even gave Long Mill 2nd grade a shout-out on the 5:30 news last night. He also showed a little clip of our students. How fun!

Teacher Appreciation

Teacher Appreciation Week was last week at our school. Teaching is a HARD job. Yes, it is very rewarding and I absolutely love it; but if I could sum it up in one word it would probably be DRAINING.   I definitely think teaching is a calling. It takes a lot of patience, time and dedication. SO a week to celebrate teachers is very welcomed! Our principal gave us Long Mill shirts AND a 2 hr. lunch break away from school. It is always a treat to get away for lunch. My students brought all sorts of goodies over the week. Below is a little of some of the things I got this week. It sure is nice to feel appreciated! 

A Day in the Life // 1

I decided to try to document a bit of my average day so that I will have it to look back on in the future. It also shows where I spend a lot of my life for my family who haven't seen my school. You can better visualize where I am.  So, this is Long Mill Elementary...

This is my hall, the blue hall. 

My classroom is the first one on the right on the hallway.

This is how my classroom currently looks.

My students come in at 8:30 and we start our day!

We do one hour of reading groups...

We have math each day... (my kids were counting the minute hand on the clock by 5's)

Here is my desk. I don't sit at it that often! 

And that's where I am Monday-Friday!

Story Time with Mr. Tucker

Chad and Tucker came to visit me at school today. It was fun to have Tuck come by and see where I spend so much of my time. My students were so excited to meet him (and some of them hadn't met Chad). They asked me about my special visitors ALLLLL day. They got to hang out, have Q & A time, story time with Mr. Tucker and then go to recess. Tuck read them an Eric Carle book- and my students thought he was a GREAT reader :)

The Talent Show

Last night we had our school talent show. Rach and I taught about 30 2nd graders a little routine to do in it. We actually had a really good time working on it and the kids had a BLAST and loved it! We taught it to them as a whole group on Tuesday, so they did pretty good to get the actual chorus routine down. All of the parents came out, mine included :) and watched us perform.

And just so you know.... getting 30 2nd graders to step touch or grapevine on beat or in the same direction is impossible.

A Thanksgiving Recipe

In the 2nd grade we talk a lot about how to write descriptively. Last week, my 2nd graders wrote "How to Cook a Turkey". Have no fear, in case you've never cooked a turkey here is everything you need to make a delicious meal this Thanksgiving...

2nd Graders Brighten My Day

One of the best parts of my job is the sweet notes of encouragement/thoughtfulness that I get from my students. You may remember this from last year. They love to draw things, write me things, write about me and then give it to me and grin from ear to ear as I read it. It is precious. Even on long, draining, stressful days, it is the things like this that make my job so worth it and remind me that I absolutely LOVE what I do.

This morning I found this one randomly on my desk. I had to laugh (apparently kids still do the whole "check yes or no" deal)...

I love my job!

Rachael Ray Show!

This past Friday (May 1), a camera crew from the Rachael Ray Show came out to my school to film for three hours to record the wellness initiative program that Long Mill has taken. They did several interviews and filmed around the school. We found out today that supposedly the segment is going to air tomorrow (May 7, 2009) on the Rachael Ray Show. Bill Clinton is going to be on the show talking about childhood obesity, so I'm guessing they will work it into that story. I don't know if it will be a little 20 second "mention" or if the Long Mill part will be a significant segment. Either way... it is exciting and fun! Watch the show (or DVR) at 10:00 am if you can and listen out for Long Mill Elementary!

Trashcan full of Gravy

We gave a writing prompt last week at the end of the 3rd quarter. The prompt was "Describe your favorite person, tell what they look like, act like and why they are your favorite." This was the first paragraph from one of my students..Please do not ask me why someone would have a trashcan full of gravy... but it made me laugh. Oh the mind of a seven year old! But sweet, none the less :)

Holidays are so much more fun as a teacher!

If you are not a teacher, you may want to skip reading this post because it will probably be anything but interesting to you. BUT because I am a teacher and this is what my weekdays consist of, I am posting about school today :) We decided to have a little St. Patrick's Day fun in the 2nd grade at Long Mill. We decided to stage that a leprechaun had come through the classrooms the night before. I went through and dumped their desks (which meant I could Clorox and they had to clean out!) and flipped some of them and scattered things around the classroom. As you can imagine, this was a little difficult for me because I definitely like things in order and make sure my students know how to be organized! It was totally worth it though. The kids had SO MUCH fun with the whole day. After the initial shock of walking into the classroom, they came up with tons of theories of what happened but most of them completely believed a leprechaun had visited. I painted green feet all over the classroom of where "Lucky" had walked. They had to do lots of activities (scavenger hunt, graphing with Lucky Charms...) in order to receive the pot of gold at the end of the day.

2nd graders are a little dramatic. love them.

The real leprechauns :) Have I mentioned I love my school, team and students?! Because I really, really do! We have fun in the 2nd grade!

Mr. Ferrell and Mr. Scott

Thursday was a fun day for me. It started off with coffee with Rach, Deana and Meg (A good way to start any day). It is always fun to get together with those girls. It is hard to believe it was only about 2 years ago we all lived together. I think it feels like forever. Then off to work, which was even more exciting because I had 2 special visitors come in the afternoon. Scott and Chad came and spent time with me. When I told my students my brother and husband were coming, they were really excited. They have met Chad before, but Scott was new. They found it hard to believe my brother was nice to me and that we get along (most of them aren't at the stage where they get along with siblings). My kids were curious about them and wanted to ask questions... so I let them do a little Q & A time. Classic:

• "Mr. Scott, Do you like basketball? Mr. Scott, do you like the Bulls of Chicago?"
• "Mr. Scott, did you know my brother plays BAKSETball?"
• "Does Mr. Ferrell play the oboe?"
• me: "Mr. Ferrell, do you want to read a book to the class?" Student looking up at me: "Why didn't you call him Honey?"
• "Grandma? I mean... Mrs. Ferrell?"

The boys were then planning to go over to Marshalls and watch the Gators vs. Sooners game so Brooke, Rach and I decided we could just hang out. Brooke, Scott, Chad and I went to dinner at Chilis before (Kevin wasn't off work yet).

What a fun Thursday!

Coffee and Shaving Cream Math

Once a week I have been meeting up with friends before school for coffee at Starbucks. It is typically on Fridays which is a fun way to end the week and a great way to start Friday! There has been a different group from Long Mill each Friday and it is fun to spend time with the girls from school- because typically at school there isn't much time for socializing!! This particular trip was on a Thursday so that Meg, Rach and I could meet Deana for her birthday! It was fun to meet before we all went to work and it was just fun to spend time together (as married/working ladies :) ! On a completely separate note from coffee, I thought I would give you a glimpse into my classroom. Last week I was teaching 3 digit addition and so we used shaving cream to work out some problems. The kids LOVED it and were very good with it... potentially it could have been a MESS.

Welcome to Mrs. Ferrell's 2nd grade class!

Here are some pictures of my classroom at Long Mill Elementary. There is still a lot to be done, but it has taken second priority to the kids coming on Monday. I was really nervous about Open House on Thursday night, but as soon as the first families started coming, I was fine. I have LOVED Long Mill- and I am really excited about this year. What a HUGE blessing it has all been!